Tunis, Tunisia, Aug 19, 2009 / 04:04 pm (CNA).- A Tunisian woman who attracted global attention when she claimed she was pregnant with twelve babies has been exposed as a fraud by her country’s health ministry.

The 34-year-old woman, only known as AF, told medics in her home town of Gafsa that she was due to give birth to six boys and six girls later this month, the Daily Telegraph reports.

The Tunisian health ministry investigated her case and found that she has “psychological problems and is unlikely even to be pregnant.”

“Our staff interviewed her at length, but even her pregnancy appears to be in her imagination,” a ministry spokesman told The Telegraph.

"She's claiming to be nine months pregnant with six boys and six girls, but there's absolute nothing about her appearance which indicates this.”

Reporting that AF has refused to undergo a medical examination, the spokesman said she has gone into hiding.

A doctor at No'man al Adab Hospital, Gafsa’s only hospital, confirmed that AF had never been in their care, the Daily Telegraph says.

The woman’s husband, a man in his 40s known only as Marwan, has hired a lawyer to deal with media inquiries and is also being reported as missing.